The Makah have repeatedly been guided by the science in responding to whale conservation threats they had nothing to do with causing. US and conservation group handling of the situation has been profoundly unjust and shameful.

Totally agree. Just wanted to make sure folks hear it’s okay not to try, too, especially if you aren’t being met halfway.

This may not speak to your experience, but I think it’s often tough for us (because scientists tend to have so much identity wrapped up in their work) to fully differentiate “I don’t care too much about your recent study” from “I don’t care too much about you”.

If someone loves you and just doesn’t quite understand what you do, David’s approach is likely to be useful. If someone is demanding over turkey that you justify your right to exist as a scientist doing work that’s meaningful to you, they don’t deserve your explanation or energy.

f you’ve never heard of the Circular Seabird Economy, it’s the idea that seabirds feed on marine prey, and at their colonial nesting sites, primarily on islands, they deposit significant amounts of those nutrients (mostly in the form of guano) onto land.

🧪

To which I say: duh. To wind up ESA listed, a species has undergone major population declines and faces significant and intractable conservation threats. There may not be habitat or resources to ever see recovery to previous population numbers. Preventing extinctions is still a massive win!

This was amazing. There was something incredibly inspiring about seeing these massive beautiful creatures wrestled out of the water and then scienced on the boat and then returned to their home as if they just had a brief time-out. Max and I are so grateful.